Molecular Modeling of EUV Photoresist Revealing the Effect of Chain Conformation on Line-Edge Roughness Formation

Park, Juhae; Lee, Sung‐Gyu; Vesters, Yannick; Severi, Joren; Kim, Myungwoong; Simone, Danilo De; Oh, Hye−Keun; Hur, Su-Mi

doi:10.3390/polym11121923

Cited by 15 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…In resists where T PEB > T g , the polymer chains will be redistributed during the PEB process due to large hydrophilic deprotected and hydrophobic protected sites. This opposed to a resist where T PEB < T g where the rearrangement of polymer strands did not occur and led to a higher final edge roughness of the pattern [ 16 ]. Ideally, the next step in this research would be to determine the T g of the full resist formulation and relate this to the patterning performance that was observed.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To clarify Surprisingly, the results show that the underlayer has a limited effect on the increase of the Tg at 30 nm polymer film thickness, since the results are close to or within the range of error. To clarify polymer strands did not occur and led to a higher final edge roughness of the pattern [16]. Ideally, the next step in this research would be to determine the Tg of the full resist formulation and relate this to the patterning performance that was observed.…”

Section: Euv Patterning Performance Of the Full Resist Formulationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Ideally, the next step in this research would be to determine the Tg of the full resist formulation and relate this to the patterning performance that was observed. polymer strands did not occur and led to a higher final edge roughness of the pattern [16]. Ideally, the next step in this research would be to determine the Tg of the full resist formulation and relate this to the patterning performance that was observed.…”

Section: Euv Patterning Performance Of the Full Resist Formulationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Dielectric Response Spectroscopy as Means to Investigate Interfacial Effects for Ultra-Thin Film Polymer-Based High NA EUV Lithography

2020

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Extreme ultra-violet lithography (EUVL) is the leading-edge technology to produce advanced nanoelectronics. The further development of EUVL is heavily based on implementing the so-called high numerical aperture (NA) EUVL, which will enable even smaller pitches up to 8 nm half pitch (HP). In anticipation of this high NA technology, it is crucial to assess the readiness of the current resist materials for the high NA regime to comply with the demanding requirements of resolution, line-edge roughness, and sensitivity (RLS). The achievable tighter pitches require lower film thicknesses for both resist and underlying transfer layers. A concern that is tied to the thinning down is the potential change in resist properties and behavior due to the interaction with the underlayer. To increase the fundamental understanding of ultra-thin films for high NA EUVL, a method to investigate the interplay of reduced film thickness and different patterning-relevant underlayers is developed by looking at the glass transition temperature (Tg) of polymer-based resists. To minimize the ambiguity of the results due to resist additives (i.e., photoacid generator (PAG) and quencher), it was opted to move forward with polymer-only samples, the main component of the resist, at this stage of the investigation. By using dielectric response spectroscopy, the results obtained show that changing the protection group of the polymer, as well as altering the polymer film thickness impacts the dynamics of the polymer mobility, which can be assessed through the Tg of the system. Unexpectedly, changing the underlayer did not result in a clear change in the polymer mobility at the tested film thicknesses.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Euv Patterning Performance Of the Full Resist Formulationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Euv Patterning Performance Of the Full Resist Formulationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Dielectric Response Spectroscopy as Means to Investigate Interfacial Effects for Ultra-Thin Film Polymer-Based High NA EUV Lithography

2020

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“…Molecular models have the potential to shed light on the physical and chemical processes that control acid diffusion and acid trapping in CAR systems. While diffusion of small inert penetrants in polymer melts and glasses has been studied by molecular simulations for more than two decades, − significant simplifications were performed in the past when extending these techniques to the more complex CAR systems. , However, with a rapid increase in computational power, ionic diffusion in inert polymers − and in CAR systems − is now examined with models that incorporate atomistic detail. Recently, Kim and coworkers presented a multiscale study of a model CAR resin, P(HOSt-BOCSt), that combined density functional theory, molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, and the finite differences method (FDM) to explore photoacid dissociation, polymer deprotection, and dissolution at the molecular level .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ion Diffusion in Chemically Amplified Resists

et al. 2021

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The acid-catalyzed deprotection of glassy polymer resins is an important process in semiconductor lithography. Studies have shown that the reaction kinetics in these materials is controlled by slow diffusion of the acid−anion catalyst, but trends deviate from models of a first-order reaction coupled to a composition-invariant Fickian diffusivity. We present a concerted experimental and computational effort to examine catalyst diffusion in a model resin of poly(4-hydroxystyrene-co-tert-butyl acrylate-co-styrene), or P-(HOSt-tBA-St), which is deprotected in the presence of an acid catalyst to poly(4-hydroxystyrene-co-acrylic acid-co-styrene), or P(HOSt-AA-St). We employed an inert catalyst analogue to examine long-time ion dynamics in both terpolymers with atomistic molecular dynamics simulations and compared the calculated Fickian diffusivities with direct measurements of ion diffusion fronts using time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry. Our results demonstrate that ion diffusivities in P(HOSt-tBA-St) and in P(HOSt-AA-St) are similar near and below the glass transition, consistent with a diffusion process that is dominated by interactions with the polar HOSt units. We then compared the bulk reaction kinetics measured by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy with reaction kinetics obtained using mesoscopic reaction−diffusion models. We found that initial reaction kinetics is significantly accelerated compared to predictions based on the long-time ion diffusivities of our inert system. This study highlights the potential of atomistic modeling coupled with targeted experiments for interrogating the physical and chemical processes that control pattern formation in next-generation lithographic materials.

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“…Hence, LER is one of current challenges limiting EUV applications. LER affects feature size and device malfunctions so significantly that LER reduction with nanometer accuracy is required [7][8][9]. LER and line-width roughness (LWR) are caused by EUV stochastic events such as shot noise of incident photons, chemical concentration shot noise, and molecule reaction-diffusion in resists [10].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Line-Edge Roughness from Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography to Fin-Field-Effect-Transistor: Computational Study

Kim

2021

Micromachines

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Although extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUVL) has potential to enable 5-nm half-pitch resolution in semiconductor manufacturing, it faces a number of persistent challenges. Line-edge roughness (LER) is one of critical issues that significantly affect critical dimension (CD) and device performance because LER does not scale along with feature size. For LER creation and impacts, better understanding of EUVL process mechanism and LER impacts on fin-field-effect-transistors (FinFETs) performance is important for the development of new resist materials and transistor structure. In this paper, for causes of LER, a modeling of EUVL processes with 5-nm pattern performance was introduced using Monte Carlo method by describing the stochastic fluctuation of exposure due to photon-shot noise and resist blur. LER impacts on FinFET performance were investigated using a compact device method. Electric potential and drain current with fin-width roughness (FWR) based on LER and line-width roughness (LWR) were fluctuated regularly and quantized as performance degradation of FinFETs.

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Molecular Modeling of EUV Photoresist Revealing the Effect of Chain Conformation on Line-Edge Roughness Formation

Cited by 15 publications

References 31 publications

Dielectric Response Spectroscopy as Means to Investigate Interfacial Effects for Ultra-Thin Film Polymer-Based High NA EUV Lithography

Dielectric Response Spectroscopy as Means to Investigate Interfacial Effects for Ultra-Thin Film Polymer-Based High NA EUV Lithography

Ion Diffusion in Chemically Amplified Resists

Line-Edge Roughness from Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography to Fin-Field-Effect-Transistor: Computational Study

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